In The Gilded Age Analysis

At the turn of the 20th century, factory working conditions were, deplorable at best. Unregulated and it really boggles the mind at the egregiousness of these business owners. Fourteen hour days, at ten or twelve years old, six days a week, and you have to pay for the electricity you use, mistakes you make, risk your life, and you can’t even use the bathroom?!!? While it is challenging for me to get past the rage, in the interest of scholastic endeavor, I will persevere. I feel, of course at first a knee jerk reaction. I am reeling at the absurdity of the whole event and the apathetic and indifferent attitudes of these tight fisted business owners and their unmitigated gall. The simple things taken so much for granted in this day and age were …show more content…
Managers in the business owner’s employ were on staff to enforce adherence to the set rules. The government was still practicing their model of Laissez-faire and workers were basically paid slaves. Owners felt entitled to run their businesses the way they saw fit. They had no sense of duty or obligation to their employees, and frankly had no reason to see them as anything other than tools, used to make the owners money. The mindset of the owners was that employees were expendable, replaceable, and entitled to a paycheck and nothing else. It wasn’t like the workers were doing them a favor or something by being employed by the company. At first the government position was to decline involvement so it could not be seen as interfering. The business owners would have seen any attempt by the government to intercede as a violation of the privacy of the business …show more content…
Would they have been so inclined if the victims were not part of an important group of constituents? It wasn’t until the senator and other governmental incumbents calculated the potential for political damage they would suffer if they lost the support of the Jewish community for failing to reconcile their apathetic response to the tragedy. It didn’t seem to make any difference when the women were alive that they were female. It wasn’t until after their death that the people, who participated in the opposition of and abuses endured by these women, showed remorse. I think it might have been the same public outcry even if the victims had been men.
After the public demand for action, the government completely abandoned their Laissez-faire attitude and enacted many necessary changes, belated as they were. Thirty-six laws were passed on the recommendations made by the Factory Investigating Commission. Laws that included making fire drills mandatory, providing fire escapes, installing sprinkler systems, and the one that really makes me shake my head is they had to make it a law to notify the employees that their building is on fire. Like, REALLY?!!? It had to be enacted as law to make it mandatory to say, “Hey! The building is on